100 German Business Leaders Visiting Israel to Show Support

While many in Europe call for a boycott of Israel, a delegation of 100 German industry leaders is preparing for a trip to Israel to meet with top businesspeople in a show of support for the Jewish state, as part of the ongoing marking of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Some of the companies to be represented in the group that arrives June 28 are SAP SE, BMW, Bosch, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Telekom, Merck & Co., Inc., Mercedes-Benz, and Lufthansa.

The German visitors will spend two days in Tel Aviv for events organized by economy ministers from Germany and Israel. On the first day, they will attend an investors’ conference, where they will meet industry leaders, CEOs, and owners of large Israeli companies. The second day will focus on innovation, and guests will speak with cutting-edge Israeli researchers.

Israel’s commercial attaché in Berlin, Hemdat Sagi, told Israel Hayom that “in recent years, Germany is becoming more and more open to innovation and more interested in what’s going on in Israel. This is true both on a governmental level and a business level.”

Sagi added, “Large companies like Deutsche Telekom, Merck, and SAP SE are already conducting R&D activities in Israel. The job of the commercial office in Berlin is to bring new partners to cooperate with Israeli companies and to enjoy the interesting synergies being formed with the Israeli market.”

Five years ago, Israel and Germany signed an agreement to fund joint projects in the fields of biotechnology, water, environmental technology, and security and defense technology. Now, efforts are being made to connect mid-sized and smaller-sized companies from the two nations.

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